Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.2 percent for the two months ending in August 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the all items less food and energy index increased 0.2 percent in July and August, mainly due to higher cost for apparel and owners’ equivalent rent of residences. Also contributing to the rise, the food index and energy index both advanced, 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, over the past two months.  (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 3.1 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 3.7 percent over the year, while food prices increased 3.2 percent. Energy prices declined 0.6 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, St. Louis, MO-IL, August 2020–August 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Aug 2020	0.8	1.8
Oct 2020	1.1	1.7
Dec 2020	1.2	2.2
Feb 2021	1.6	1.8
Apr 2021	5.4	4.8
Jun 2021	6.1	5.0
Aug 2021	6.6	5.2
Oct 2021	7.5	5.8
Dec 2021	8.3	6.3
Feb 2022	8.2	6.3
Apr 2022	8.4	5.7
Jun 2022	8.4	4.8
Aug 2022	7.5	5.3
Oct 2022	7.0	5.0
Dec 2022	6.2	5.0
Feb 2023	5.9	4.8
Apr 2023	4.2	4.6
Jun 2023	3.1	4.8
Aug 2023	3.1	3.7

Food prices increased 0.3 percent for the two months ending in August. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 0.5 percent, while prices for food at home (grocery store prices) were up 0.2 percent over the same period. Within the food at home category, increases in the indexes for fruits and vegetables (+1.6 percent), other food at home (+0.8 percent), and dairy and related products (+2.7 percent) were partially offset by decreases in the indexes for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (-3.7 percent) and cereals and bakery products (-2.1 percent).

Over the year, food prices advanced 3.2 percent. Prices for food at home rose 3.9 percent since a year ago, with the index for other food at home (which includes items like sugar, sweets, fats, and oils) contributing most to the increase at 7.8 percent. Partially offsetting the increase in the index, prices paid for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs declined 5.3 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 2.1 percent over the same period.

The energy index advanced 0.6 percent for the two months ending in August. The increase was almost entirely due to higher prices for gasoline (+7.6 percent), but a rise in the index for natural gas service also contributed (+0.7 percent). Partially offsetting the advance, the index for electricity declined 7.3 percent for the same period.

From August 2022 to August 2023, energy prices fell 0.6 percent, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-3.1 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service decreased 0.1 percent, while prices for electricity increased 1.2 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.2 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for apparel (+7.7 percent), owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+0.6 percent), and rent of residence (+0.6 percent) drove the increase.  Lower prices for medical care (-1.2 percent), public transportation, education and communication (-1.2 percent), and recreation (-0.8 percent) were the largest offsetting influences to the index over the same period.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 3.7 percent. Components contributing most to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+5.8 percent), rent of primary residence (+7.4 percent), other goods and services (+7.3 percent), and recreation (+4.4 percent). These increases were partially offset by lower prices for medical care services and used cars and trucks (-6.1 percent).

The October 2023 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, November 14, 2023.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 93 percent of the total U.S. population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 percent of the total U.S. population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, groups such as professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, and retirees and others not in the labor force.

The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Each month, prices are collected in 75 urban areas across the country from about 6,000 housing units and approximately 22,000 retail establishments—department stores, supermarkets, hospitals, filling stations, and other types of stores and service establishments. All taxes directly associated with the purchase and use of items are included in the index.

The index measures price changes from a designated reference date; for most of the CPI-U the reference base is 1982-84 equals 100. An increase of 7 percent from the reference base, for example, is shown as 107.000.  Alternatively, that relationship can also be expressed as the price of a base period market basket of goods and services rising from $100 to $107. For further details see the CPI home page on the internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the CPI section of the BLS Handbook of Methods available on the internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cpi/.

In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together with weights that represent their importance in the spending of the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. Because the sample size of a local area is smaller, the local area index is subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error than the national index. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. As a result, local area indexes show greater volatility than the national index, although their long-term trends are quite similar. NOTE: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The St. Louis, MO-IL, area covered in this release includes Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties in Illinois; and Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Warren counties and St. Louis City in Missouri.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.